


Jester Gets Angry

by itendswithz



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Critical Role (Web Series) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Happy Fun Ball, Spoilers to Campaign 2 Episode 83, angry Jester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 00:21:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21419101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itendswithz/pseuds/itendswithz
Summary: Jester gets angry with Halas and makes a decision. Spoilers for Campaign 2, up to episode 83 divergent starts at about the 3:24:00 mark. Italics mean it's the cast speaking, regular text is the in-world characters. I hope that's clear.
Relationships: Fjord/Jester Lavorre
Kudos: 47





	Jester Gets Angry

Barely a moment after the black, astral form of a ghostly Nott slipping from her body and dissipating into the ether and Caleb rushes forward, catching the frail goblin into his arms. Weak, brittle Caleb. The wizard who she’s always saving in fights. He’s the first to react, the first to move. The man barely turned, signaling to retreat before the party follows him back over the darkened stairwell into the demon’s lair.

“Back so soon,” the horned demon crones, its voice honey-sweet. “What is problemsss? Is she sleeping?”

“Shut up!” Beau yells.

“Caleb! Put her down,” Jester moves quickly, digging in her haversack for the diamond Cad gave her before they entered the Happy Fun Ball. She places it over the still chest of Nott and screams, “Traveler! Save her!”

She can hear the demon trying to coax Fjord or Beau into opening the book, reading the poem; can hear Caleb shaking, swearing in Zemnian as Caduceus tries to calm him. But Jester focuses on the only thing that matters: saving Nott. She pushes a pulse of magic into the diamond, watching in horror and fear as the gem blackens and shatters, the tiny pieces now ugly and unusable.

“Quite some trouble this one’s gotten into.” A deep, masculine voice says as the diamond shards hover for the briefest of seconds before a wave of green pushes them down, the magic energy enveloping Nott’s tiny body as she absorbs the fragments. And then He’s gone.

A rattling intake of breath as Nott turns her head. “What..?”

Caleb scoops the goblin’s head into his lap, eyes wet, voice raspy, “check for traps dummde.”

_ “Matt,” Laura says as Marisha, Liam and Taliesin berate Sam. “Can I see the gem Halas is in? Nott was holding it last.”_

_“Make a perception check.”_

_She grabs the red, fiery die and shakes her hand before dropping it. “12”_

_“12. When Caleb put Nott down, the ruby imprisoning Halas shifted out of Nott’s pocket and landed next to her.”_

_“I grab it and throw it up my sleeve. Like a magician does for card tricks.”_

_“Make a sleight of hand check.”_

_Taliesin asks, “Can I see this?”_

_“Make a perception check.”_

_The red die wasn’t that great, so Laura grabs her blue tiefling one and rolls it as Taliesin rolls one of his. “24”_

_“That beats my 15.”_

_“Can anyone else see this?” Travis asks as Marisha writes something down._

_There’s a pause before Matt answers. “With that check, I’m going to say no. Jester’s body is blocking you and Beau’s view. Caleb is distracted holding Nott and Caduceus didn’t see it, too busy healing Nott to notice.” _

She can feel her tears flowing, a drop or two sliding down her cheeks. Jester wipes them away and notices the ruby holding Halas on the stone floor. Probably fell out of Nott’s pockets sometime during the effects of Revivify. It’s impulse, a daring stupid decision made without any real thought behind it but Jester puts her pointer and ring fingers on the gem and flicks it up into her sleeve. All those years playing pranks, switching things, stealing cards. Her skill is unbeatable and no one notices her swift movements.

The party is talking too fast for Jester to catch up with the flow of conversation but Fjord clears his throat, “We’re in a terribly dangerous place. Maybe we should just look for Yussa.” He says it like a suggestion but everyone hears the command it really is.

It’s hard. It’s impossibly hard for Jester to walk back into the Prison of Soot. To walk past the place where her best friend died. To walk down levels of cages, to see the skeletal and not-so-skeletal remains of other adventures who died in the Happy Fun Ball (and her mind screams at that name. This thing is not happy, not a good thing. It’s name should be “Stupid Mage And His Stupid Death Trap, Let Him Rot In Here.”). They find Yussa alive and Jester wants to cry. She wants to leave and go home. Wants to hug her mom and feel warm, red hands caress her hair and soothe away her fears. Just like the few times when Jester had nightmares and her mom could comfort her instead of the lonely men who paid the bills.

Caleb’s magic fails and she’s tired of waiting. It’s a shame to use the magic paints on something like this, but she paints holes and pulls the iron bars away. Beau catches her, steadies her as she places them on the ground. Fjord helps Yussa out and then they’re walking away, up the stairs and out of the prison. 

They don’t even stop to look at the demon, just head straight into the study. Caleb and Yussa immediately begin some kind of weird wizard pissing contest of who knows more but Jester walks away, right up to the ruby in Halas’ star map. She remembers: touch the ruby and then the glowing orb and be out of the Happy Fun Ball. She wants to do it, wants to just leave. But she’s the cleric, she can not go without her friends. They need her. Even when they think they’re safe, they’re not. Not in here.

“Jester,” Fjord’s smooth voice interrupts her jumbled thoughts. He opens his mouth only to stutter her name again.

“I want to go home.” She doesn’t mean to say it but the truth can not be contained. What’s worse, she catches Beau straighten her back and Caduceus’ ears twitch. Her friends heard and now they are going to think she’s weak.

“I want to go home too,” Fjord answers, a small smile on his lips, tusks just barely visible. “Let’s get out of here.”

He tilts his head toward the ruby and Jester thinks she might cry again. Yussa huffs something and walks past them, touching the ruby without saying anything to them. 

“You’d think the guy wouldn’t be such a dick,” Beau says, carrying a cursing Nott under her arms. “You know, considering we saved his ass. You did good, Jester. I’m glad we’re friends.”

Beau pats her shoulder before poking the ruby as the monk and goblin get sucked into the dragon’s lair. Caduceus doesn’t say anything, just walks to her and with a gentle touch casts cure wounds. The warmth of the Wild Mother’s healing magic spreads through Jester, and even though she wasn’t hurt too badly, the gesture is what matters. Caleb is quiet too, just a smile that reaches his eyes. And then it’s just her and Fjord.

“Ladies first,” he says waving to the ruby.

“No Fjord, you go. I just need a moment.”

“Jester. Last time we were here, you got left alone. And that happened again with the other dragon. And the Laughing Hand. I’m not leaving you alone, not again. Never again.”

The words sing in her ears and Jester is crying, real hard tears this time. All her life, she’s been alone. She knows her mom and The Lavish Chateau workers loved her. But she was alone, shoved into a hidden space, kept secret from the world. And then when her prank turned dangerous, Jester was thrown from her home and forced to flee in the night like an unwanted thing. That first night of this journey, Jester slept in an inn all by herself, trying and failing not to cry. She’d be alone until Fjord walked in during breakfast. A sailor not at sea. And then Beau and she never had to sleep alone, always someone there to prevent the nightmares. And then Caleb and Nott and Molly and Yasha.

And then she’d been captured and tortured, dragged away from her fledgling family. Only to be saved but Molly. Molly… and then Yasha was stolen from them. And Caduceus died and Nott died and she would outlive all of them. The curse of a tieling was to watch everyone she loved die on her. Beau and Caleb are human, Nott’s a middle-aged halfling. Who knows how old Caduceus is, how much of his life he’d already spent. And Fjord. This brave, strong man who means so much to her. Fjord is half-human. He’ll die before Jester turns 100.

“Jester, Jester don’t cry. I’m here, I’ve got you.”

_ “I cast dominate person.” _

_The table freaks out, her friends yelling. But Laura doesn’t dare look anywhere but at her husband. His face open in disbelief. Brown eyes, the same color as their son, squint at her. Travis is so smart, so caring. Not until this moment, did she think about Jester’s future. A future that would mirror the character’s past: alone. There was a time in Laura’s life when her career was failing, when she thought she’d be another broken-heartened fool LA chewed up and spit out. A time when she thought she’d be alone. Just like Jester. _

_But Laura found happiness and she owes it to Jester to get this character some closure. Even if it breaks the party. Liam isn’t the only one who can make big decisions this campaign._

_Matt lets the hubbub last for a moment longer before he tells Travis to make a wisdom saving throw._

_“I let it happen,” he says instead of rolling, understanding that Laura is planning something. Supporting her even if he shouldn’t. “Fjord wouldn’t expect Jester to do something like that. It happens.”_

__ Fjord’s body seizes, the spell taking hold. She gets one sentence, one chance, to make this work. “Touch the ruby and then walk straight to the orb and touch that too.”

Yellow eyes wide with shock and fear lock with her as his hands drop to his side, spine straightening. His legs move, robotic and forceful. One step and then another and another. This is bad, Fjord knows she hit him with a spell. He’s going to be mad, he’s going to hate her. But there’s nothing Jester can do now. The half-orc is silent, unable to speak as his right hand raises up and lightly touches the ruby. He’s gone in a flash and Jester is alone, once again.

She doesn’t have a lot of time. Her friends will notice she didn’t leave with Fjord. They’ll notice him walk right out of the dragon’s lair not stopping to speak to them. They’ll have questions she won’t be able to answer.

“Back again! Back again! Did you come to read the poem? It’s in the green tome, just over there. Just over there. Don’t you want to read a nice poem?” 

The demon is near crooning, trying to tempt Jester into making more mistakes. But it’s just the one she’s making. Nothing as stupid as freeing this creature. “Stop talking. You said you wanted Halas. This is him.” She lets the ruby slip into her palm and holds it up.

“Ah, Jester. Are you finally ready to dispel this magic.” The mage’s voice is grating, invading her mind like a bug ruining a nice, sunny day.

And Jester can’t think of anything but Nott’s smiling face. Of Nott standing in front of a box, lock pick tools in hand. Of Nott crumbling to the floor because of this man. She remembers the skeletons in the Prison. The piles of ash in the armory. The bodies in the room with the four curtains. The dragon her friends killed. The frog monster. The clones. She thinks of all the beings, big and small, that have died because of Halas. How many of them were people like Twiggy, just innocent naive people playing with something they didn’t understand? How many were like Yussa, arrogant fools who should have known better? How many were like the demon, forced to trapped alone for eternity?

All because of one man.

A man who cared for nothing but **his goal** of living forever.

She once told Beau that her anger was a sight to behold. That when she finally stopped being happy, stopped smiling, finally dropped her guard and just let herself feel, Jester would be dangerous. Something to fear, not pity. And this is it. She’s going to make Halas feel the pain he’s caused so many people.

Jester reels her arm back, feels her skin shift under the armor plating. And with all the might her strong body holds, Jester throws the ruby at the babbling demon. She doesn’t stay to see if the ruby lands in the circle, doesn’t stay to make sure the demon isn’t freed. She throws the stone and runs.

Runs to the ruby, runs to the orb. Runs out of Yessa’s tower and doesn’t stop as Fjord calls her name. Doesn’t stop to put a disguise on herself. Just beelines to the only place she’s ever felt safe: the tiny hidden room on the top floor of The Lavish Chateau. The room where she first met the Traveler.

_ The table is yelling and Laura can’t stop smiling. That was bold, foolish. They probably need Halas. She looks up to see Travis smiling and realizes it was the right choice. Fuck Halas; Jester wasn’t going to let him get away with killing Nott. _

_“Okay,” Matt says disrupting the commotion she’s caused. “Was not expecting that. I think that’s where we’re going to end tonight’s episode.”_

_The table starts yelling again but the cameras are powering down until the final one pans to Matt makes some announcement and then he says, “Don’t forget we love you very much. And is it Thursday yet?”_

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please support me by buying/reviewing my book of poetry:  
https://www.amazon.com/Case-W-467-Poetry-Joseph-Benavidez/dp/1976886600


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